HW: Your captain is dead...

[Doug Pearson]

On Mon, 9 Feb 1998 17:48:23 GMT, J Strobridge <eset08 at HOLYROOD.ED.AC.UK>
wonders:

>The 7" single is a re-done studio version with Lemmy on vocals
>The original version was live at the Roundhouse (also known as the
>Greasy Truckers concert) with Bob on vocals however the track was not
>released on the Greasy Truckers album but on Glastonbury Fayre.

Right; the label on the 7" even states the original live recording date (as
verified by Bernhard in an earlier message), so the single version and
Glastonbury Fayre version are originally the same recording.  The single
version was created by editing the live version (it's shorter), replacing
Bob's lead vocal with Lemmy's on the original multitrack (4? 8? 16?), and
adding Dave's lead guitar and Del's synth (those are the only differences I
hear).  (BTW the Cardinal Sin version of "Silver Machine" on the vinyl
version of 'Assassins of Silence' was put together in exactly the same way:
live backing track used, then edited down and new vocals/fx overdubbed - a
tribute to both the song and the recording process).

>My Question:  So why did the two Hawkwind tracks from the Roundhouse appear
>on the Glastonbury Fayre album?   This has puzzled me muchly for many
>years!

Well, this contradicts the "official" gig list, but I read somewhere (I
think it may have been the first Record Collector article on Hawkwind from
1985) that the Hawkwind performance from Glastonbury was not used because
Dave Brock isn't on it!  Apparently it was one of those gigs where he was
the member of Hawkwind too tripped-out to stand up, let alone play, so Thom
Crimble (of Skin Alley, and former HW bassist) filled in on guitar for the
gig.  Since "Silver Machine" and "Welcome" were left over from the
Roundhouse recording, and not used on the 'Greasy Truckers' set, they were
used on the 'Glastonbury Fayre' release.  Can anyone verify this
(Bernhard?!?), or am I just repeating an unsubstantiated urban myth?

Incidentally, HW aren't the only band on 'Glastonbury' whose live recording
comes from a different date; the Grateful Dead's "Dark Star" was from an
earlier performance (and, of course, the Bolan, Bowie & Townshend tracks
are studio recordings).  I'm pretty sure that the rest of the tracks on the
set were actually recorded at the Fayre (don't have my copy handy to
verify, though).

And then, on another subject, herbert rosenberg <chuck at GENESISNETWORK.NET>
adds at Sun, 8 Feb 1998 19:13:15 -0800:

>As for Nik, I second Duane on Past Or Future--best release of the '90s
>perhaps. Especially for the brilliant "Opa-Loka 2000". Then get Anubian
>Lights--I just have the EP Jackal & Nine (which is actually about 50-55
>minutes), but it's brilliant, but more techno/ambient than space-rock.
>Then get Sphynx--I've never heard the original, so I can't compare, but
>this is very good. Then...um, that '94 release, the name of which I always
>forget now...some choice tunes, some ICU tunes, some HW tunes, etc.

That's 'Prophets of Time'.

>After that, if you find yourself thinking that Nik of the '90s is just
>incomparable stuff, the best stuff out there, whoopin' Hawkwind '90's butt
>all over the floor (I don't want to start that old argument, but I feel so
>empassioned that I had to say this), then get Sonic Attack 2000--which is
>an odds comp of NT and AL, with some alternate versions/mixes of tunes.

I definitely agree that 'Past or Future' is the best 90s Nik release after
'Space Ritual 94' (being a live recording from the following year's tour).
Although I like 'Sphynx' and 'Prophets of Time', I feel that they both
suffer in comparison to the originals.  After all, the original
'Sphynx/Xitintoday' has the amazing lineup of ex-Gong members, including
Steve Hillage and Tim Blake.  And most of the ICU remakes on 'Prophets'
lack the energy, spirit and humor of the original versions (this is
partially due, I'm sure, to the way in which the recording was put together
by trans-Atlantic overdubbing) - you gotta get the ICU CD-ROM from Steve
Pond to hear the BEST post-HW Nik music!  The only exception (all IMO, of
course) is "Stonehenge Who Knows," since Simon House is a better violinist
than Dead Fred Reeves (not a put-down; that's like saying that someone
isn't as good a guitarist as Hendrix).  Then there's also the problem of
songwriting credits on 'Prophets of Time', but that's another can o' worms ...

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com

ObCD: Stotz's Blue Leg Expedition 'Traveling by Spore'